This Reformation Day we would like to salute an early reformer… Jan Hus. Hus was a pre-runner to Martin Luther and he gets less press… so here we are.
Jan Hus
Some people call it Halloween… we like to call it Reformation Day. This is the 501st anniversary of Martin Luther’s famous act of nailing his 95 Thesis to the door of the Church in Wittenberg. We spent a lot of time on the reformation last year but this year we wanted to look at a great influential person for the reformation even though he predates Martin Luther by 100 years.
Jan Hus was a priest who was a huge follower of John Wycliffe, who could be called the first reformer. Wycliffe wrote things against the doctrines of the Church of Rome without getting into too much trouble. However Jan Hus takes the teachings of Wycliffe into his pulpit and starts a huge following that echoes all the way to the King of Bohemia, the King of Rome, and the Pope himself.
Hus was martyred for his beliefs and his followers ended up in a holy war in Bohemia. Hus’ story is one of standing firmly on what you believe even in the face of being burned alive for it.